Online Gambling Another Step Ahead in the US

August 13, 2009 | News Category: Casino Banking

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The court battles concerning online gambling in the United States often rule in favor of online gambling, rather than the United States Justice Department. Although there are issues and problems in enforcing these decisions at times, each victory in the courts is simply another step in the right direction towards legalization of online gambling in the United States.

Along with the various court battles, online gambling bills designed to regulate and legalize online gambling are also finding more favor across the board, often from unexpected sectors. The latest court battle that was won for online casinos and online gambling in general concerns the ruling in the online poker bank account seizure case.

The warrants used by the US prosecutors office in order to seize the funds from a number of bank accounts which had been used to channel funds to United States residents who had played in and won money at Internet poker rooms, were kept under wraps. It seems that some of these warrants had even been written after the funds had already been confiscated. Around $40 million was seized unexpectedly at the time that the funds were confiscated. Players who had been playing in smaller online poker rooms lost out, however, those playing in larger online gambling sites were given money to replace the confiscated money by the Internet gambling sites themselves.

The fight to make the affidavits and warrents public has been won. The Department of Justice was keeping them sealed, claiming that this was begin done in order to protect some of their ongoing investigations.

The judge presiding on the case, Judge Laura Swain, said that the United States Attorney's office for the Southern District of New York had not shown compelling reasons to keep the online poker seizure warrants sealed. Judge Swain did, however, allow that certain key names are able to be redacted when copies are released to the public.

IMEGA's chairman, Joe Brennan, said that it is likely that the sections that the judge has allowed to remain sealed, are the names of key witnesses and co-operating individuals that the Department of Justice wishes to protect. As part of her order, Judge Swain has told the Department of Justice that she must be frequently updated in order to ensure that the remaining information is disclosed at an appropriate time during the investigations.

Hopes are high in the online casino industry that soon the UIGEA and illegal online gambling will become a thing of the past.